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AP names Lamia Radi as chief of Arabic language service

CAIRO (AP) — Lamia Radi, a veteran journalist who has reported on war and transformation for three decades throughout the Middle East, has been appointed as the new chief of AP's Arabic language service, the news cooperative announced Monday.

Radi is moving to Cairo from Dubai, where she worked for Sky News Arabia. In the past she reported for Agence France-Presse and the Italian news agency ANSA, from postings in Cairo, Beirut and Geneva.

The appointment was announced by Dan Perry, who heads AP's text coverage of the Middle East, and by Ian Phillips, the agency's Middle East news director.

"Radi brings a wealth of experience and understanding of this turbulent region's news and history — and also the changing needs of its print, online and broadcast markets," Phillips said.

Perry added that "as a native and student of the region with broad experience in global media, Radi is ideally suited to lead our efforts to produce an ever deeper Arabic-language report of the highest standard."

Radi was an online reporter with Sky News Arabia and for a time ran the broadcaster's website. And she has held AFP postings in Cairo and Beirut, where she was deputy bureau chief. Over the years she has covered war zones including Iraq, the Palestinian territories and Eritrea.

She began her journalism career in Geneva in 1982 as a United Nations correspondent for the Egyptian weekly Al-Siyassy. More recently she was on the editorial board of the Egyptian newspaper Al-Shorouk.

Radi also has done media training courses for the BBC World Service and Thomson Reuters. She holds a bachelor's degree in commerce from Cairo University, and speaks Arabic, English, French, Spanish and Italian.